Tuesday, June 15, 2010

My World Tuesday ~ One person's interpretation

To appreciate the detail in this post please click on the photos to enlarge.

The circle of life....we are all one!

This is a pretty busy week on Haida Gwaii, with the returning of the name "Queen Charlotte Islands" to the Crown (Canadian Government) on Thursday officially returning these islands to their original name, the returning of a totem pole from Jasper, Alberta which was removed from the islands in 1931, the raising of six (6) totem poles (including the returned one) on Saturday and the celebration of National Aboriginal Day and the first day of summer on Monday, June 21.

So I thought I would start the celebrations with some remarkable wall "graffiti" I discovered in Prince Rupert on my way home to Haida Gwaii in May. The work was painted on the back of a building covering a full city block. It has taken the artist several summers to complete the work and when it starts to deteriorate he will be back to paint a new story on the wall!

DFO is the Department of Fisheries!

The artist is Tsimshian from the Terrace, BC area and his work is truly remarkable. I can interpret some of it but not all....I would love to meet the artist so he could share his story.

Some of his designs are so very obvious

I wish I knew what this meant

and others you have to think about.

The butterfly represents the wandering or lost spirits of those who died at war or away from home.

Some tell the First Nations story,

The missionaries had the First Nations cut down and burn their totem poles.

and some tells ours.

Many chinese immigrants were brought to Canada to build the railway.

Some you just have to wonder about.

Detail

This one I can't begin to explain but it absolutely captivates me.(make sure you enlarge)

Paddling into the after life(these are life size)

The great canoes

Spirits leaving(note the detail in the smoke of the long houses)

The wolf and the raven (note the detail in the mountains and the grass is real!)

12 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Oh wow! What absolutely wonderful art. Thank you for sharing. I love art from local BC artists and have a much loved print of a work by Roy Henry Vickers of Tofino. I look forward to seeing more of the upcoming celebrations.

Wow! Those murals are so beautiful. I love the wolf and eagle murals. We have many large murals around the city of Vernon, just 15 minutes from my home. I don't know if you've ever been there so you can see them here: www.vernonmurals.caThanks for sharing!

Not sure this wonderful art fits in the graffiti category. What I'm used to from Los Angeles is way different. But I guess it all has special meaning, except maybe the name tagging. I am reading a really good book about the golden spruce by John Vaillant. I've got to get there some day. Such wonderful history and from your pictures beauty even after all the logging. - Margy